Is It Worth The Fight?
by midnight 345
Summary: Two best friends get separated in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, one is rescued from the city by the an Asian boy named Glenn while the other is saved by mysterious hooded man. Will they never see each other again? When the dead come back...is it worth the fight? Romance, Drama, Slight gore. Daryl/OC, OC/OC
1. Chapter 1

**OC Character Info **

Main OC's -

(First OC)

Full Name - Katie Ann Gray

Age - 23 years old

Hair - (Colour) Dark Brown, (Length) Just Past Waist,

(Type) Naturally Wavy

Eyes - Bright Turquoise

Height - 5.7

Weight - 7 stone

Personality - Kind, Independent, Smart, Positive

Hobbies - Art, Cooking, Playing Guitar, Singing, Games, Lover of books

Bad Traits - Hot headed, Very Stubborn, Finds Violence Better than Words (Tries not to show it), Doesn't Like to Lose

Fighting Abilities - Good Aim, Good at throwing things, Fast, Good upper body strength

Weapon(s) - Daryl's knife, (Back up) Meat Cleaver, (Second back up) Small Hand gun

Nationality - Scottish (Accent) Well spoken, picked up a light Southern tone

(Second OC)

Full Name - Rachel Shannon Stirrat

Age - 22 Hair - (Colour) Light Brown almost red, (Length) Past the shoulders, (Type) Naturally Straight

Eyes - Light Sky Blue

Height - 5.6 Weight - 6.5 stone

Personality - Good Hearted, Child Like, Independent, Smart when needed

Hobbies - Watching Movies, Art, Cooking, Pulling Pranks, A Heavy Reader

Bad Traits - Easily goes into rage, Stubborn, Cunning

Fighting Abilities - Fast, Sharp shooter, Fights like an Animal

Weapon(s) - AK-47, (Back up) Two Hand guns, (Second Back up) Pocket Knife

Nationality - Scottish, half Irish (Accent) Speaks with Scottish Slang, Slight Irish tone

(Third OC)

Name - Rylan James River

Age - (Unknown) appears to be 25, possibly younger

Hair - (Colour) Jet Black, (Length) Stops before his

collar bone, (Type) Messy, Straight, Falls over one eye

Eyes - Forest Green

Height - Around 5.8 to 5.9 (Unknown)

Weight - (Unknown) Personality - Quiet, Strong, Cares about the group over himself, Very Protective

Hobbies - Fighting, Helping the people he cares about, Relaxing, Cloud Watching

Bad Traits - Not many but can be over protective at times

Fighting Abilities - Amazing Aim, Huge Strength both upper and lower, Fast, Instant Reflexes

Weapon(s) - Tachi Sword, (Back Up) Small Katana, (Second Back up) Pocket Knife

Nationality - Northern Ireland (Accent) Thick, Rough Irish, Well spoken

**Author note - Hiya! First of this is my first ever story that I've written for the Walking Dead but I hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry if any grammar or spelling is incorrect but I'll try to fix it as soon as I can! Hopefully the first chapter will be up soon and you'll all enjoy it! But if I don't have any reviews or nobody has favourited this story by the 3rd or 5th chapter I'll probably stop writing it so make me smile and review or favourite. Hope to be posting soon! **


	2. Chapter 2

**It Begins**

**( Katie's pov ) **

They were everywhere. Every corner we turned there was more. They were disgusting. But what did I expect? They were corpse's after all. The smell made me want to puke if I had anything left in my stomach that is. It's been a week since the break out and a week since Glenn had found me, one week...yet it felt like months had went by.

Just a week before I was in my apartment that I shared with my best friend Rachel. She was out getting ingredients for her famous chicken noodle soup and I was sitting at my computer like any other day I had off from my teaching career when the news reporter on the TV that I wasn't watching until then, said something about a virus that had been infecting people. The virus is very dangerous and spreads easily, she'd said, so don't touch anyone with the symptoms and just contact the military and they'll take care of it, then a medical staff member started to talk about how to avoid the virus. At that point I just laughed, it had to have been a joke right? I'd watched way too many zombie movie's and this whole report had the plot of one written all over it. Instead of taking it seriously, I decided to go out to the Starbucks around the corner for a peppermint hot chocolate the last thing on my mind was this stupid virus as they tried to past it off for. It was all just a prank I'd told myself, it had to be. But later that night Rachel hadn't came home in fact their was hardly anyone out in the streets which was strange for Atlanta, normally there would be someone out...a gang of teenagers or at least a few cars, there was always something. Even the Starbucks I'd went to earlier that day didn't have anyone there, the place was locked up really tight even better than when the shop closed for the night. This was getting weird. What was really creepy was how quiet the apartment building had been most of the day and come to think of it so had the street. It was dark outside but now I was getting really worried. Maybe I had been wrong in what I'd done next but I didn't care at that point I just wanted to find Rachel. So I pulled on my coat and brown leather boots and left my apartment, totally unaware that it was the last time I'd ever see my home again.

The streets were quiet, way too quiet. I had chills running up and down my spine as I walked the dark streets. The street lights were out, there wasn't a single light at all. I didn't know why but I knew something was wrong, very wrong. That was when I saw it...an outline of a shadow, an average looking female just a few strides in front of me. I felt a sudden feeling of relief overwhelm my body. I wasn't alone...that was all that mattered.

"Hey there! Could you tell me what's going on?" Time had frozen as soon as the words had left my mouth. The figure slowly and unsteadily turned around to face me. What I saw nearly made my heart stop. The girl's skin was an unhealthy grey colour, her eyes were clear, no colour or light at all, the creature's hair was messy and was dipping with blood but the worst part of the sight was her jaw and neck had been torn off but not completely. I felt my stomach turn as the skin of her jaw dangled and moved whenever she moved her head. I hadn't ate much but I suddenly felt what little I had come back up in my mouth, without control I started to puke at the creature's appearance but what made it worse was the smell. It was a mix of guts, blood and the smell of a dead body after it's started to decay and rot. When I was done hacking up my breakfast I looked up and felt a wave of terror wash over my whole body. It was moving at a quick pace and it was heading for me. Without a second thought I ran back the way I came. Instinctively my legs started to move me back towards my apartment building thinking it was some kind of a safe zone. But before I could even make it to the side walk three more creature's were coming out of the building. 'Shit!' I thought. Where the heck were they all coming from?! All I knew now was I needed to get out of here and fast. But everything turn was a death trap. I couldn't lose them! How long had I been out here? Two minutes?! Five?! Maybe ten I didn't know! I wheeled my head around to see 10 of those things chasing me. Oh god, what do I do? What do I do!?

Running as fast as I could I darted down an alleyway but no luck. There was even more of them waiting. What now! I needed something to protect me against those things! Anything! I started to panic as I looked around me, aha! Reaching into a trash bag I yanked out a throw out baseball bat. A little old but it's better than nothing. As quickly as I could I ran out of the alley and back out onto the streets managing to avoid the claws of one of those creature's as I went. It felt like hours before I'd managed to lose the group of those things. I'd gotten lucky I guess, there was a car in the middle of the road unlocked and empty. Without a second thought I ran into it and slammed the doors shut, after a while I started to calm down and just listened. I was too scared to make a noise and slowly lowered myself onto the car floor and formed into a protective ball. I don't know why I did, it just felt safer this way. I stayed like that for god knows how long but eventually I slowly drifted off into a dreamless slumber...

**Author's Note - Okay guys that's the first chapter done! I hope you guys like it and please review and let me know if you liked it. I know it was short but I'm working out the story line as quickly as I can but I promise the next chapter will be longer. I'll update soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope**

**(Katie's pov) **

Next thing I knew I was waking up on the car floor, confused and unsure as to why I was there. As I blinked myself awake I suddenly remembered where I was and what was going on. Those things were still out there, I could hear them walking and making those inhuman groans. What a nice way to wake up, knowing that the next move or noise you make could rob you of your life and with a mind that was still hazy from sleep didn't help my sense's at all. I waited, that was all I could do for now, at least until they pasted the car. I kept my breathing low and counted the seconds in my mind. When the seconds had got to around 900 it had gotten quiet, so I very slowly pushed my body up so I could see out of the car window. The area was clear...maybe that was a good sign but who was to say that a huge herd of those monsters weren't waiting for me at the next corner. I was scared but sitting in this car wouldn't get me anywhere so I had to take this chance. With caution I opened up the door just enough so that my body could slip through along with my 'borrowed' baseball bat. Being out in the streets at daylight felt much better than at night but my heart was still beating like crazy. I didn't run, I had nowhere to run to so I walked down as quietly as I could down the street. What used to be my home looked like a ghost town or like it had just been through a riot. Which it sorta had been when you thought about it. My chest tightened while I walked the lonely street, this place used to be filled with life and now it was empty like nothing had ever lived here before. I couldn't stand being here, I need to leave as soon as I can it doesn't matter where I go just as long as it's away from here, and away from those things.

The silence of the area was broken by the sound of running in the distance, it was faint but I could still hear it heading this way. Maybe it was what I experienced last night that made me run and hide behind the car but for whatever reason I felt it was better this way, at least until I'd found out if the sound was from a human or not. After a while of hiding the steps had grown louder and eventually an Asian boy with black hair, maybe around his early 20's came running down the street clutching a bag to his chest. He looked as scared as I was and I instantly felt sorry for him, he just looked to helpless running like that. Without a second thought I calmly I stepped out from behind the car so he could see me, maybe it was a bad idea but somehow I felt like it was safe to show myself to him. He acted human so it was okay...right? As soon as I was in his view he stopped dead and froze, looking even more terrified than before. Who could blame him? With all these monsters walking about you could never be sure at first glance if someone was a human or one of them. I took a breath and raised my voice to speak.

"Your the first human I've seen." It was a lame thing to open up with I knew, but I didn't think a 'Hi! How are you?' was a suitable greeting in this situation. He seemed confused, probably not sure what to say to a total stranger. But after a few seconds he replied sounding a little nervous.

"Are you human?" That caught me off guard but I choose to nod, it may seem stupid but I wasn't really sure if I was human, with all the creature's walking about could you really blame me? Maybe I could have been infected and just not have known it but since I didn't know myself I just used the easier response. A quick sigh escaped his lips and before he started to build up into a run again he took one look at me and wasting no time said, "If you want to live, come with me." It all happened so fast I had no choice but to run with him. For whatever reason I felt safer with him or maybe it was because I wasn't totally alone anymore. He seemed like a nice guy much better than those things anyway. Eventually after a lot of running we'd actually made it out of the city without a scratch, yeah we'd run into those things every now and then but with the boy's help we'd survived. I couldn't thank him enough he'd saved me. Maybe it didn't seem like a big deal to him but it did to me. It was awful in the city I thought I was going to die there but I hadn't all because of him. I promised to myself that I'd repay him back in whatever way I can. And I keep my promises.

(Time skip to just outside the camp)

We'd kept on running even when we were outside of the city and away from the chaos. I had no time to complain, I didn't want to lose my pace and fall behind. When we approached a hill we had stopped running and took a minute to catch our breath. As my heart rate started to slow back to normal I heard the boy start to speak. "Have you been bit or scratched?" Bit? Scratched? I didn't get it...by what? I let my confusion be heard and replied, "What do you mean? What does having a bite or a scratch have to do with anything?" The boy turned to look at me with as much confusion as I had. "You don't know?" About what? This talk about biting or scratching was starting to scare me a little. I shook my head as I waited for an explanation.

"If you get bit or scratched by a walker, then that's it you'll slowly die and turn into one of them. That's how the infection spreads and how most people have ended up, if you're smart then you won't end up like them." Staring at the ground I tried to take in this new information, it was serious and hard to stomach. So he'd given them a name...walkers it sorta made sense well it was easier than calling them those things or creature's. I'd fallen silent and just nodded as he opened his mouth to keep on talking, he wasn't done yet.

"We have a group up that hill we haven't got much but it's better than nothing. If you want I can take you up there to meet them, we could use a few new member's." My face brightened up at his offer. "Yeah that would be really good thanks." Seeing my sudden smile he smiled widely back then turned around to start walking to where the group was. I was about to happily follow him but then I suddenly remembered something.

"Hey wait," Hearing my words he looked back at me confused, "I just realised I don't know your name. I'm Katie Gray."

"I'm Glenn. Well we'd better hurry to the camp, the guys have been waiting for these supplies all day." With a nod I followed him into the camp, hoping to god these people wouldn't hate me or try to kill me.

**Author's Note - It was sorta short again (Sorry I was busy with homework) but please make me keep on going and review or add this to your favourite's! It would mean a lot thank you! See you next update**


	4. Chapter 4

**New Faces **

**(Katie's pov) **

I could see the camp now. The site was very basic, nothing special but seeing people alive sitting around the area was like a gift. It gave me a new feeling of hope, that if they could survive and take care of themselves even this much then why couldn't the people that I knew. My family back in Scotland would be fine, knowing them they'd be fighting like animals against the walkers and they were smart, they knew how to survive. But Rachel...she was still in the city as far as I knew, as smart as she was she needed people to stay sane...I need to know where she is, if she is okay or if she'd been bitten. Please god let her be safe, she's the last person I have in this country...she's all I've got left.

"I'm back! And I brought a guest." Glenn shouted throwing the rucksack to a white bearded man wearing a fishing hat. Not sure what to do with myself I followed Glenn up to the parked RV were the breaded man stood, searching through the bag briefly. I could feel curious eyes staring at the back of my head making me keep my head down trying to pretend the eyes weren't there.

"Nice work Glenn, this should keep us going for now." The bearded man gave it to a dark haired man, letting his attention fall on me. Even if I was nervous something about his eyes made me feel like there was nothing to fear from him. He looked very friendly, just your everyday calm elderly man. Taking a deep breath I stepped out from behind Glenn and looked up shyly at him. A friendly smile came across his face and he spoke in a kind voice, "Who's this?" I wasn't too sure if he was talking to me or Glenn but I chose to reply.

"I'm Katie Gray, I'm sorry that I'm coming into your camp like this but when Glenn saved me he'd said that you guys needed new members so..." It felt weird saying this to a bunch of complete strangers and even weirder asking to join their group. Heck before this had all happened I wouldn't have even asked to go out with my friends unless they had invited me too. To be honest I felt like I was being really rude doing this but I had no other option's right now.

Looking over to the dark haired man who after a second nodded, the bearded guy turned back to me with a quick nod. "Well I can't see why not, you look able and we could use more help and beside's we can spare some food for another person." A smile broke out across my face, "You'll take me in? Thank you! Thank you so much!" Overjoyed I stepped forward and gave the man a quick hug without even caring if I looked weird or silly.

"Woah! Haha, it's no problem there's no way we could leave you out there all by yourself. It's hell out there even in a group, sending you out there alone would be like killing you right here." Letting him go I continued to smile though I could feel the eye's of the others staring at me even more now. It didn't matter at this point I was going to live thanks to these people and Glenn most of all. And speak of the devil Glenn stepped up behind me and raised his voice to speak.

"So I guess we should introduce you to everyone, their all sitting there by the fire...come on." As soon as he mentioned the rest of the group I felt my nerves starting up again. 'It's okay their just people they aren't gonna kill you,' I thought as Glenn lead me to the others. Before I knew it I was staring face to face with them, standing uncomfortably next to Glenn. After a minute he'd realized I wasn't speaking so he went on and started the introduction's with ease.

"Okay umm first this is Lori and her son Carl," He motioned towards a very thin looking brown haired woman sitting next to a pale, brown haired little boy, "this is Amy and her sister Andrea," Two blond, pretty, strong looking women, "Ed, his wife Carol and their daughter Sophia," A mean looking big gutted man that looked at me up and down like he was studying me all over, an extremely thin short grey haired woman and a pretty little blond haired girl, "Morales, Miranda and their son Louis and daughter Eliza," A smiling big man with a very tired looking woman and a happy little girl and boy, " that's Jim, Jacqui and T-Dog," Another bearded black haired man with a cap on, a black pretty woman and a black man with a kind of hip hop look about him, "and that's Dale and Shane." The friendly elderly man and the dark haired man from before. "Guys this is Katie and she's going to be joining our group."

There was a bit of mixed reactions to the news but most of them either nodded or smiled at me making me feel welcomed. They weren't so bad at least not as bad as I'd thought they were going to be, just a group of normal people all trying to survive whatever the hell was going on. I struggled to remember all their name's so I just smiled and waved wordlessly. Before anything else could be said there was the sound of a twig snapping followed by the sound of approaching feet. Everyone's heads snapped quickly to where the sound had came from. Walking out of the tree's were two heavily built men carrying a huge dead buck by it's antlers and legs. They were very rough looking and sorta reminded me of those stereotypes you found in the southern states...rednecks I think they were called. They at least had the tough look of them. One was taller and meaner looking while the other while still rough, looked much more handsome than his friend. Looking at him I felt my face go hot but I quickly hid it with my hair as I quickly forced myself to calm down.

"Oh yeah sorry Katie I almost forgot, this is Merle and his brother Daryl their also part of the group." I was kinda surprised by his tone, like he wasn't really happy that they were or something. My eye's looked over to the pair as they dropped the buck to the ground and the meaner looking one, Merle I think, walked over to me and looked me up and down when he was standing in front of me. Something about him made me feel very uncomfortable and unsafe. It didn't get any better when he opened his mouth to start talking.

"Listen here sugar tits," I felt my temper starting to slip already. Sugar tits...you've got to be shitting me. " I ain't got a problem about you being here but lets get one thing straight. You and me 'ill get on fine and dandy as long as you keep your mouth shut and out of my business. We clear." What an ass. Glaring I bit back my tongue and replied back, nearly spitting venom. "Same to you." Merle raised his eyebrows for a second then snorted and started to walk back to the buck. As soon as he wasn't near the camp fire everyone went back to what they were doing before the brother's had came back and probably before I'd arrived.

God I've never wanted to hit a man so much in my life! Taking I deep breath I calmed down slightly but still not ready to completely let what he'd said go. Turning my head I looked over to where the men had dropped the deer and found myself locking eyes with Merle's brother Daryl. We stared at each other, standing still for a few seconds before I furrowed my brow and when I did he looked away and walked up to where his brother was making work on the deer. Before I could question that I felt a hand gently be placed on my shoulder making me jump a little. Looking up I met the tired and sad eyes of the woman I remembered was named Carol.

"We're about to start making lunch, if you want you could lend a hand." Feeling my temper nearly settling back to normal I smiled at her and nodded, it was kinda funny but I'm already starting to like Carol. Or it wasn't just Carol, but this whole group had been very welcoming, well most of them anyway. I felt myself smile as I helped Carol and the other girl's of the camp make lunch while others hung out the washing. If I hadn't gotten up the courage to get out of the car I would have probably still been out in Atlanta or worse. I was really thankful to Glenn and everyone here. They'd made me feel safe again and that's all I really needed right now, was to feel safe.

Author's Note - Woohoo! Third chapter ready? I'm feeling proud of myself haha. I hope the next two or three chapters will be up this weekend but I'm really busy. So please don't be too disappointed if I only get one posted. I'll update as soon as I can! It's 3:00 am over here and I have school today so be happy! Please review or favourite! It'll make me smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**Give**

**( Katie's pov ) **

The next few days were very uneventful. I was just learning the basics of survival and lending a hand whenever I could. I'd ended up sleeping in a tent with Jacqui that was set up right next to the RV. Camping wasn't something I'd ever tried before and it turned out that I didn't like it but I couldn't complain. Its still better than the city so it didn't matter anyway. It didn't take me long to figure out were the camp stood on the duties of the separate gender's. The women cleaned, cooked, washed everyone's clothes and mainly took care of the children. This didn't surprise me, I mean that's how it was many years ago when it was all about surviving. I would be lying if I pretended it didn't bother me, but I didn't say anything. Most of the men here were very proud and probably would think I was insane suggesting a change of the system. Maybe I didn't want to start anything up since I was the newbie, nearly everyone here knew more than me and would probably not bother listening to me. But I knew I could do more, I'd never liked work but I guess now I didn't want to be dependent on others, I wanted to pull my own weight and possibly support others when they needed it. Especially the mother's of the group, I couldn't imagine how hard it must be trying to support yourself while worrying about your children. I wouldn't be able to cope for long, so maybe if I helped them out more it would take away some of their stress, even a little.

If I had the guts to I would have asked to go out and hunt with the men, but I knew I'd just be dead weight at least until I could learn how to defend myself. Before all the shit happened I had never learned anything to protect myself. The only fights I'd been in with my older brother but wining a play fight against him probably wouldn't help me fight of walkers. We had very few weapons as it is when Shane, Daryl and Merle went out hunting they'd take Shane's old handgun with very limited ammo, Daryl's crossbow had only had about 5 arrows and Merle would take Daryl's rusty knife. So trying to learn how to shoot or fire an arrow wasn't much of a possibility.

"Hey Kat can you go over to Merle and Daryl to get their washing?" Lori asked me while putting some shirts into the basket to take it down to the river. Around the camp people had decided to give me the nickname Kat which I didn't mind. I stood up, rolling my eyes 'Merle and Daryl...yipe...' It was more Merle than Daryl that got on my nerves. Daryl didn't say much to me, all I could get out of him was a nod and I'd catch him looking at me sometimes but that's it. It was better than how Merle acted around me, he couldn't keep his mouth shut. If he made one more of his stupid comments I was gonna kill him.

Merle and Daryl were sitting around the camp fire, Daryl was sharpening the tip of a stick and Merle sitting playing with a toothpick in his mouth. Oh yeah that's very attractive. "Do you guys have any clothes that need washing? Now's the time to hand it over." Merle stood up in front of me while his brother stayed sitting only lifting his eyes off of his stick for a second.

"You'd best watch your tone with me little lady, I aint gonna be talked to like shit." I narrowed my eyes at him, he's got to be kidding. Clenching my fists I put on a very forced sweet smile. "Aw I'm so sorry hun. Let me say it again," I cut off to do a silly curtsy, "Please will you grace me with your dirty rags." Merle's eyes had hardened, not breaking eye contact I got back into a standing position and folded my arms. After a few seconds Merle snorted and walked over to their tent and brought out some very gross checked shirts with the sleeves ripped off. I made a disgusted noise when he threw them in my face. They smelt like a mix between shit, guts and sweat. I didn't even want to know how they'd got them smelling like this...

I glanced over to Daryl who'd looked up at me at the same time, with a sharp nod I walked back to Lori with their laundry. "We'd better wash these, more than once." Lori took one sniff at the shirts and made a funny face. We both laughed and took the clothes down to the river where the other girls were sitting already hard at work. I sat my basket next to Carol and started to work my way through the clothes one by one.

As much as I hated doing it, sitting with the girls by the river talking about girly stuff was probably the only thing keeping me from going into depression. It was like before when I'd sit with Rachel and talk about stupid things and just laugh. Yeah it wasn't the same but I still had fun with them. It sure beat hanging around Merle that's for sure.

"So Kat," Andrea said after Amy had finished talking about her high school boyfriends, "What was your life like before all this...shit happened?" I went quiet for a minute thinking about the question before I responded while ribbing two shirts together.

"Well, I grew up in Scotland with my parents and my older brother for 22 years, my high school life was normal, I studied to become a teacher and to earn enough money to move to Atlanta. Eventually after I got my qualifications me and my best friend Rachel had raised enough money to go to Atlanta and get an apartment. It took a lot but we managed to save up, get ourself's jobs and keep our money stable but we still had enough to treat ourself's every now and then. I'd only had one or two boyfriends in high school so there's not much to say about that. I wasn't the type to follow the crowd...I listened to rock while other people listened to pop so like that kind of thing. I was still happy though with my friends, especially around Rachel she always made me happy no matter what was going on. But I don't know where she is, last I saw of her she was leaving to get ingredients for her homemade chicken soup and then this shit happened. I really hope she's okay..."

"So where did you meet her?" Amy asked after a pause of silence.

"Rachel? Oh I met her in primary school but I guess that's middle school over here. We stayed best friends ever since without even a single fight." Jacqui looked up and smiled at me as she squeezed the water out of a pair of jeans. "Well a friendship like that is hard to find." I smiled back at her and started to wash one of Daryl's shirts.

"I'm sure she'll be okay." Carol placed her hand gently on my shoulder which strangely made me feel much better and went back to her washing. I felt as if a little weight had been lifted off of my shoulders after opening up to the girls. It'd been on my mind for the past few days and I felt much better now.

I'd lost track of time after a while but when we were finally done the sun wasn't that far from setting. Andrea had noticed it first and then told us to finish up in the next few minutes. At that point I'd already washed everything in my basket once and I was now in the middle of re-washing Merle and Daryl's poor excuse for clothes. They smelled better than before and I'd managed to get most of the stains out so only a few marks were visible, which was good knowing we only had water and our hands to use except that one washing board that Amy was using. They'd better be happy with it or I might just snap and do something I'll regret.

In camp, Dale and Glenn were sitting by the fire cooking up some meat for tonight's dinner, Merle and Daryl were sitting by the RV, Ed was sitting on his ass as usual in a lounger by the washing line and Carl, Sophia, Eliza and Louis were sitting around a tree stump drawing with crayons. Shane was no where in sight and come to think of it Lori had suddenly disappeared a second ago too. 'That's kinda weird,' I thought while having a quick look around for them but I didn't have any luck. I shrugged it off after a while realizing that if they had gone somewhere it wouldn't be far, there wasn't any point to go somewhere away from the group anyway. Plus Shane had a gun and Lori had just been standing over by the washing line and there was people standing around that area so there was no way a walker could have gotten to her.

After I'd stopped to think over the facts and saw there was nothing to be worried about I walked over to Dale and Glenn to see how they were doing. It was the first time I'd ever seen a male at the camp cooking and maybe it was because I wasn't used to seeing it but it kinda made me a little concerned. Not that I was judging Dale but Glenn had told me during one evening that he cant cook to save his life. I think I was actually more worried about the food than anything else. It was the last of the buck we had left and really the last of the meat to, plus I was very hungry and I didn't want them to screw it up.

"So, what you two men up to?" I asked and then yanked Glenn's baseball cap off his head and put it on mine. I'd always had a thing about stealing hats as a child, maybe it was because a hat was an easy target to grab but even I wasn't sure why I did it all the time. Glenn didn't mind up since he'd gotten used to it after the first few days and besides I suited his hat so no one was complaining.

"Oh not much just cooking for tonight's dinner, or trying to at least." Dale replied while stabbing the under-cooked meat with a small knife. "Does that look ready to you Glenn?" I watched the two male's stare at the meat almost like it was an alien or something. Snickering I took the knife out of Dale's hand and put it down on top of a cloth on the ground.

"Gentlemen just leave it to me, I may not look it but I'm a pretty good cook. Dale do you have any foil in that RV of yours?" Dale thought for a minute and then nodded his head. "Can you go get it for me please?" With a quick sure thing Dale walked back into the RV. "And Glenn can you go and get that water bottle from over there in the bag please?" Glenn nodded and brought it over from the backpack and into my hands. When I had it I poured some into the pan and used the knife to make sure every bit of the meat got some water into it. I waited about five minutes for the meat to soak up the liquids and for it to turn a light grey colour before I took it off of the pan and then wrapped it up in the foil Dale had got me and put it back on the pan again. As I did this I felt five pairs of eyes watching me as I worked away on the meat. Eventually though I found out the eyes belonged to Dale, Glenn, Merle, Daryl and little Sophia. I was surprised to see Sophia had stopped drawing to watch me cook, it wasn't that interesting was it?

While I waited for the meat to finish up I turned to Sophia taking it as an opportunity to get to know her. "Do you like watching people cook?" Seeing I had noticed her, Sophia suddenly turned a little shy but was still able to answer questions. "Not really, it's just my mum used to cook like that when I was little..." I tilted my head at her reply. "Used to? Why did she stop?" Her thin hands clenched tight and she nervously glanced over to her father who made eye contact with her and like he'd shot her, her eyes flew back to the ground and her face looked kinda scared. I frowned at that. Why would she react like that to her dad looking at her?

"She was just too busy to do it when I started getting bigger." I chose not to question her since she looked so shaken and decided to talk about something else. "So how old are you?" Her hands slowly stopped shaking as the subject changed. "Ten." I smiled. "Wow that's young, man I wish I was that age again." Sophia giggled and sat down on the log next to me. For a minute nothing was said until Sophia's eyes suddenly fell on my hair that was in a messy bun. "How long is your hair?" It was a weird question but she's just a kid. Without even saying anything, I took out my hair bobble and let my hair fall down past my waist and since we were sitting down the ends of the hair were laying on the floor making it look even longer somehow.

Sophia's eyes widened at my brown, wavy locks and shouted excitedly. "Woah! You have so much hair!" I laughed as others around the camp looked and saw my long hair. Most people looked surprised and others not very impressed, mostly the male's mind you. Sophia was definitely the most excited over the length of my hair. She was kinda cute for a ten year old. Most of the child's I know that are that age are little shits that you just what to punch. I liked Sophia already she was different in a cute way.

Remembering the meat was cooking I quickly took it off the pan to be checked in a while when it's cooled down. To pass the time I let Sophia touch my hair which for some strange reason made her happy. It turned out she knew a lot more about hair than I did and practically begged me to let her plait my hair which I agreed to. By the time she was done the meat had cooled then after a good check it was all cooked through and ready to be served. When I'd checked I'd caught the eye of Carol who was walking past and I asked her to go get the plates. Once I was done cutting up the pieces most people had smelled the meat and came to see what was the smell. Glenn's stomach growled as I dished out the plates which made everyone laugh.

Nearly everyone had been served apart for three people, me, Daryl and Merle. I'd wanted to make sure everyone got their share before I got mine and when I looked around and they weren't there I was a little annoyed. "Shane where's Daryl and Merle?" Shane shrugged while he shoved the deer into his mouth. He may be a good man but when Shane's hungry he's like every other man I'd ever met. Rolling my eyes I got up with two serves in hand. They'd better not be far or I'm gonna ring them. They weren't far thank god, I found them outside of their tent or really I should say him. For some reason Merle wasn't there only Daryl was sitting against a tree sharpening the head of an arrow. Geez he has a thing with sharp things doesn't he?

Hearing me walking towards him his head snapped up but then his eyes looked down when he saw me. I preferred Daryl to Merle but he wasn't much better at least Merle spoke to me...though I sorta wish he wouldn't. I looked around not too sure where to put the plates when I saw Daryl's hands out of the corner of my eye reach out to take them. When I handed them to him I was shocked to hear him actually say something.

"Thanks." I looked at him and he looked back at me, his stare had the word what written all over it. I smiled slightly but before I had turned to leave I spoke up.

"Look I know that you and your brother go out and catch the meat and all, but can I ask you two to come down to get it whenever it's done cooking. Its only fair." Hearing no response I continued. "This is a one off okay, I aint gonna be no waitress to you guys." I turned and looked at him and without even looking away from his beloved arrow he mumbled loudly.

"Alright, thats how ya want it." I said my thanks and left him to eat his food and go eat mine. As I sat down in front of my plate, I saw most of the guys had finished their's already. Glenn looked very satisfied as his plate was cleaner than before.

"Damn girl you know how to cook." I heard Shane compliment me while I munched on my share. Everyone apart from Ed and obviously Daryl and Merle complimented my cooking. A flush of pride washed over my body. I was worried it wouldn't turn out well since I hardly had any of the proper cooking tools but apparently that didn't mean I couldn't cook. "I think we've found ourself's a new chef." Dale said with a smile and everyone else nodded.

It made me feel good knowing I'd made them smile. And now I was the chef of the camp it was a start at least but I wonder if someday I'll learn how to take down a walker. As much as we'd like to pretend we were, we weren't safe. One gun, a crossbow and a few knives couldn't keep those monsters away. For now I'll just pretend too, I'll laugh and joke but I know that sometime soon...the acting has to stop.

**Author's Note - I'm kinda proud of this chapter with how long it is and I hope you enjoyed it too! Please favourite and review! It means a lot and will keep me going, so if you like this story then please do it to let me know!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Place**

**( Katie's pov ) **

The next morning Shane had called everyone to attention while we all feasted on some left over squirrel meat for breakfast. After he'd ate he stood up in the middle of where we were sitting and addressed the group. Though I knew it was serious I couldn't help but note how awkwardly he stood and looked at us. Maybe he didn't like giving orders but someone had to. Even with his awkward stance he spoke strong with a no joking face to us.

"Alright listen up, so far we've been doing fine as a group and we aint had any problems yet and I'd like to keep it that way. Getting food hasn't been a problem thanks to Merle and Daryl but our water situation aint the same. Last time we sent out Glenn he'd found a van that had lots of bottled water in the back, but he couldn't get to it because there were walkers around it. Today I'm gonna send out him again but this time I'm gonna send out a group with him as back up. The group that we've decided on is Andrea, Morales, T-Dog, Jacqui and Merle. When your done eating, get your things and start heading out." There were some murmurs as soon as Shane was done. I turned to Glenn confused.

"Did you know about this?" Glenn shared my confusion and shook his head. The hushed voices were suddenly broken by a rough voice. "Hold on just a damn second," I recognized it as Daryl, "Why's ma brother goin but I aint?" Daryl's face looked annoyed but probably because he didn't understand why he wasn't going with Merle. I'd wondered that to but I didn't think Shane had decided without his reasons. Shane met eyes with Daryl appearing un-fazed by Darly's slight glare and replied.

"You and Merle are our main hunters and this little trip could take a while to get done. While he's away you'll be keeping the group fed and if you don't mind Katie will accompany you on your hunts." I nearly choked on the last of my food at his last words. Did I just hear that right? My head flew to where Daryl sat and found that he was doing the same to me. Both of our brows furrowed and after a few seconds I broke eye contact and turned to Shane. "Why me? I haven't got any experience, I don't even know how to defend myself."

Leaning against his riffle Shane replied, "You survived nearly two days in the city all by yourself with walkers at every turn, I think you've earned the right to say you could help out with a little huntin." My eyes fell to the floor, what had I done in the city. Run around and hide in someone's car? If it hadn't been for Glenn I was sure I would have been bitten or starved to death at least. Anyone would be better than me at hunting but I guess I could always learn.

"Fine! But she'd best not slow me down." With that Daryl left and headed towards his tent with his brother following on his heels. I was not looking forward to the hunt later on today that was for sure. It didn't take long before everyone had finished their breakfast and the group started to get their things for the trip. Most of the group took what little weapons we had leaving us with Daryl's crossbow and one or two knives. Though I knew the group needed it, I wasn't completely comfortable with how many weapons we'd been left with. I really hoped a group of zombies wouldnt come walking into our camp while they were gone.

Not long after Andrea and Glenn shouted over to us that they were leaving. After saying our goodbyes the group left and the rest of us went around our business as usual. Seeing Carol and Lori making a start on cleaning the dishes I started to make my way other to them but before I made it there, I felt a sharp jab at my shoulder. Turning I came face to face with Daryl standing with his crossbow thrown over one shoulder. "You coming or you ain't." I felt a twinge of dread fill my gut, oh yeah...the hunt...yay.

Not giving me a chance to respond, Daryl took his knife from his pocket and shoved it in my face. I quickly raised my hands defensively in front of my chest to stop him from cutting me. Seeing this, Daryl snorted and shoved the knife into my hand for me to take. "You need a weapon dumbass, I ain't gonna cover your ass got it. Let's start headin before it gets dark. And try to keep up."

I looked down at his knife and sighed, yeah it's official...I hate him. Carol gave me a look of pity when I walked past her behind Daryl, it must be obvious that he's not the friendliest guy in the camp and I had the great pleasure of spending the most time with him. It wasnt long before we'd left camp and entered the forest which as soon as we were in silence had fallen between us. It wasnt an comfortable or awkward silence it just felt necessary. I'd be lying if I said I'd expected a conversation during the hunt. Following Daryl's lead I copied his movements as we went through the woods. If we heard a stick snapping we'd get into a crouch position with weapons ready and if we saw something in the distance we'd quickly hide behind a tree. I felt like I was in a video game with all this hiding and crouching we were doing which I was honestly sort of enjoying.

It didn't take a genius to figure not that my hunter partner was completely ignoring me. Though at first when I decided to copy whatever his body did, he did look at me like I was insane but quickly changed his expression when I looked at him. I didnt want to sound creepy but I found it entertaining to watch Daryl. Out here he was in his prime. If I didnt know how bad his personality was I could call the sight of him hunting attractive, not that I ever would. Though saying that...he did have very nice muscles. I quickly stopped these thoughts when I realised I was staring. Thank god he didnt notice.

Nothing much had happened after my weird little episode, Daryl shot down some squirrels and we'd lost track of a buck about two miles out in the woods. It was still light out so we kept on walking in silence looking for food. The silence had finally started to get to me and right off the top of my head I started to talk.

"Nice weather we're having." It was a very lame attempt to start a conversation and was answered with nothing. I sighed, "You dont talk much do you?" I was kinda surprised when I got a response. "There aint nothing to talk about." His voice was so sharp that it cut off anymore attempts at having a little chat so I kept quiet. The air went silence again for god knows how long but was then broken but the sound of two twigs breaking. As before we both crouched low and hid behind closest trees to us. We waited but the twigs kept on breaking in a rhythm that happened every few seconds. I frowned while listening to the frequency of the snaps, too slow to be a squirrel but too fast to be a deer. A low 'hey' broke me from my concentration.

I looked over to Daryl that make a motion of someone walking with his finger, a walker. I mouthed 'what do we do' to him and after a pause he mouthed back 'I'm going in for it.' I sharply nodded once and watched as he brought his finger to his mouth and made a low shh noise. Slowly Daryl stalked over to the walker still in his crouch, crossbow already aimed at its head. It happened so fast. In one second the walker had turned realising something was behind it and in the next Daryl fired and an arrow went straight through the monsters head. When it fell to the ground lifeless I came out from behind my tree to get a closer look. It looked male from what I could tell but either way it was very disgusting. Daryl yacked the arrow out of the walkers head and wiped the tip on the ground getting off some of the blood.

Out of nowhere a walker came out from behind the tree next to Daryl, its jaw ready to bite and hands ready to grab. Daryl's crossbow was unloaded and he hadnt seen the walker but it had seen him. With evil, lifeless eyes the monster started to make its way up behind Daryl. I felt a sudden wave of adrenaline wash over my entire body.

"Daryl!" I yelled but before he had time to react, the knife was already in my hand and without thinking I threw it and hit the walker right in its head. When it fell I gasped in a huge breath of air, pant, pant. I couldnt believe what had just happened. I'd saved Daryl but not only that I'd taken down a walker without even thinking. I stared with wide eyes at the once moving walker. Daryl was also staring at the zombie that lay dead at his feet. Both of our heads were trying to make sense of what had just happened and eventually we'd broken from our trance. "Where did ya learn to do that?" Daryl asked sounding impressed.

"I dont know," then I thought about it, "I did used to play darts with my dad and I was really good at it." He seemed to accept that as a reason, quickly retrieved the knife from the walker and handed it back to me. "We'd best tell Shane about your knife throwin skills, we could use ya." I decided to ignore the word use and chose to smile at him. With that we left the sight and continued to hunt, but this time both of us could kill something and the other wasnt just following the other one around. It made me feel good knowing I had uses, other than being a good cook and all.

After many hours, me and Daryl had killed around ten squirrels and yes I'd taken down a few by myself not that I was bragging not anything. I hadnt noticed but it had started to get dark pretty quickly. By the time we'd killed another two squirrels the sun had started to set over the trees. "We'd best be headin back." Daryl said while shoving a dead squirrel into his bag. I nodded my head and we both made our way back to camp together in a very comfortable silence.

Carol looked shocked to see me walk back into camp with a smile on my face. Its like she'd expected me to come back in little chopped up pieces. In the corner of my eye I saw Daryl fling the dead animals onto a table were he and Merle would normally carve up the meat they'd got on the hunt. Feeling confident I made my way over to him were he'd got out a knife to make a start on the squirrel meat.

"Hey can I help?" I didn't know why I was asking, maybe I just wanted to pass the time by helping him out.

Daryl looked at me while quickly sharpening the knife. "Ya know how to carve?" I continued to smile and shook my head.

"No but I'd like to learn." Taking a few seconds Daryl thought about it and nodded. "Use the knife I gave ya and do what I do." My face brightened up and I sat down across from him.

I will admit that Daryl isn't the friendliest guy but he isn't that bad when you get to know him. As long as your careful what you say to him, otherwise he might just shoot you. And trust me he wont be kidding.

**Author's Note - Just a heads up, I might not be updating too soon since I'm planning on transferring schools soon. But I hope you enjoyed it! Please favourite or review! Its a quick click of a button and it means so much to me so please do it. I'll try and update as soon as I can!**


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